“For us it’s a front that Perry [Hills] hasn’t faced. We’ve faced four down fronts for the most part, and we’ll get some three down fronts like last week in nickel situations. This team is a true 50 defense. Which for him is just another week of adding to his box of experience. You have to attack different fronts different ways, and so this week we have to prepare and come up with a game plan vs. a 50.”

On how Perry Hills bounced back after last Saturday’s loss:

“I talked to him on the phone and saw him after the game and my big thing was telling him as a quarterback it’s a natural leadership position. The other guys on the offense are going to look to him for leadership, and it’s a game. It’s one game, and obviously we didn’t play very well on offense and that’s collectively, myself included as a coach. We need to come in, he needs to come in tomorrow and put it behind us. That’s going to be our base way of doing things around here, win or lose, we have 24 hours to get over it and make the necessary adjustments we need to make.”

On Matt Furstenberg’s play and his involvement:

“There’s an effort to get the passing game going. But, with a young quarterback obviously coverages and things they do on defense dictate where the ball goes. We go into every game with a plan to try to get certain touches to certain people. We have to make adjustments and when you have a freshman quarterback, a lot of the things that you go in planning for you see different things. It becomes a game of adjustments throughout the course of it. Matt’s a guy that the impact he’s made for us may not be on the stat sheet. He’s done a great job in the run game for us and he’s helped us in some protection situations, and we’ll continue to try and find ways to get all those guys involved. As I told our offense, especially the guys on the back end, we’ll only be able to do and go as far as far as our quarterback is able to take us.”

On having Tyler Cierski back and where the reps will go:

“It’s a great situation to have as we’ve talked about. That’s the type of situation you’d like to have at all the positions, along the offensive side of the ball. We’re fortunate to have four backs that are all capable of carrying the load for us. The competition day to day and throughout the course of a game week will obviously dictate the roles that each guy has.”

On Brandon Ross returning:

“Well yesterday was really the first day, and I thought he did well for his first day back. He’s been in all the meetings even though he hasn’t been practicing with the guys that are traveling, but he’s been there mentally throughout the course of the injury. From a mental standpoint we feel that he’s there, and then last week he was able to get some physical reps down on the scout team. From what I heard he did a great job and looked good running.”Defensive Coordinator Brian Stewart

On how he rated the return of Matt Robinson and Isaac Goins:

“I thought both did a good job. I thought our communication in the back end was clean. I thought they did a good job of coming in where they left off and knowing what they’re supposed to do. They did a good job of making sure everybody was on the same page.”

On the difficulty of going up against WVU’s offense:

“The offense has one of the better quarterbacks, Geno Smith, in NCAA Football. Not just having him, but the tempo of their offense, they’re a fast paced offense. And then they have good skill players on the edge with Stedman Bailey and Tavon Austin are going to end up as two of the better receivers. As a challenge, we’re excited about the challenge. To be the best, you have to play the best. I think it’s excited they’re on the schedule and we get an opportunity to play them.”

On the challenges the air raid offense presents:

“For the most part they can lure you to sleep, especially if their quarterback has a strong arm like Geno does, and their receivers can catch the ball. What we want to do is keep the ball in front of us, tackle the catch, and eliminate the big play. If we can get off on third down, I think we’ll have the opportunity to be close.”

On slowing down a quarterback like Geno Smith:

“I don’t think you go into it worried about slowing him down. I just think like I said you eliminate the big plays, keep the ball in front of you, tackle the catch, put pressure on him, and get off on third down. You’ll have opportunities.”

On Head Coach Randy Edsall’s insight on WVU:

“Coach Edsall knows what we do defensively, and the people we’re playing against. So, he always is going to have his name on it and he’s talked to us about it.”

On how the secondary has taken steps the past two games:

“I just think with Matt [Robinson] back as a starting safety our communication is a lot cleaner. You’re not going to get freshmen mistakes from him. Unfortunately freshmen are going to make mistakes, and they’re going to see run when it’s not run, and see pass when it’s not pass. Matt understands his keys, your keys tell you run or pass, and then you play it from there. So, I think the biggest improvement is not having mental errors in the back end like we had against Temple and William & Mary.”

On the challenge of playing a hurry-up offense:

“My first college job back from the NFL was the University of Houston. This is the exact same offense that the University of Houston employs. As a matter of fact, Dana Holgorsen in 2009 had the number one offense at the University of Houston, and then he went to Oklahoma State. The way the defense is set up with the no huddle and the wristbands that we use, it came from playing against that offense in practice. I don’t anticipate the communication being a problem. What I do anticipate is that it’s hard to practice that speed.”

On the linebacking core:

“Honestly I’d like to see more plays. We had some opportunities to make plays and it’s not anybody’s fault. We just need to understand what’s asked of everybody, and once we get that cleaned up I think we’ll be able to make some more plays. For the most part they’ve done what we’ve asked, but I just guess I’ve been spoiled.”